The Food GPS Fried Chicken Festival took place on Sunday, September 15 at LOT 613 in the downtown L.A. Arts District. This chef-driven, all-inclusive event showcased one of the world’s best-loved and most versatile dishes in a spacious industrial setting. Side dishes, craft beer, cocktails, sodas, desserts and a DJ set all helped to contribute to the festival. Better yet: My Friend’s Place receives a portion of proceeds. Please re-live the experience through this photo gallery. Thanks to all the talented, hard working people who helped make this event memorable. I hope to see you at the 2014 Food GPS Fried Chicken Festival!

LOT 613 worked well for June’s Father’s Day CollaBREWtive Brunch, and the Food GPS Fried Chicken Festival utilized more of the event space. [Matthew Kang]

Kajsa Alger and Susan Feniger represented STREET. [Matthew Kang]

STREET featured bacon waffle croquettes with spicy maple sauce. Food on a stick FTW. [Matthew Kang]

Feniger found a quiet moment before festivities started in full. [Matthew Kang]

David LeFevre, the executive chef of Fishing With Dynamite and M.B. Post, made a return fried chicken festival appearance. [Matthew Kang]

LeFevre made Truffle Honey Laced Fried Chicken with Lime Cilantro Kohlrabi Slaw, a dish that’s on M.B. Post’s brunch and lunch menus. [Matthew Kang]

Roxana Jullapat & Daniel Mattern, the sweet and savory chefs from Cooks County, showed their enthusiasm for fried yardbird. [Matthew Kang]

The couple served Cooks County Fried Chicken Sandwich with Crunchy Cabbage Slaw. A larger version appears on their lunch menu. [Matthew Kang]

Jason Neroni calls Superba Snack Bar a pastaria, but he’s also got a handle on fried chicken. Pitfire Pizza co-founder Paul Hibler (left) is his partner on Superba concepts. [Matthew Kang]

Superba’s Fried Chicken featured red wine glaze, pickled chilies & Parmesan with a side of Kentucky style bacon slaw. [Matthew Kang]

Chef Bryant Ng and wife Kim Luu-Ng are behind Little Tokyo’s The Spice Table. [Matthew Kang]

Ng and The Spice Table made a new version of fried chicken just for the Food GPS Fried Chicken Festival: Prawn Paste Fried Chicken (Chinese honey mustard) with Spicy Baked Beans (palm sugar, Chinese bacon). [Matthew Kang]

Chris Oh, the chef and co-founder of Seoul Sausage Co., clearly enjoys his own cooking. [Matthew Kang]

Seoul Sausage presented their version of Da “KFC,” aka Korean Fried Chicken. Deep fried Korean spiced chicken wings joined with a pickled green mango and daikon slaw, kimchi pineapple cheddar cornbread and Sriracha honey butter. [Matthew Kang]

Matthew Poley is a co-founder of multifaceted Heirloom LA, a company that caters, runs a private event space and regularly rolls out a market-driven food truck. [Matthew Kang]

Heirloom LA offered Chicken Karaage with Crispy Cabbage Slaw, Fresh Plum Katsu Sauce, House-Made Sriracha, served with Tri-Colored Fingerling Potato Salad. [Matthew Kang]

Eduardo Ruiz is the chef and front man for Corazon y Miel, an exciting new pan Latin restaurant in Bell. [Matthew Kang]

Corazon y Miel doesn’t normally serve fried chicken, so Ruiz created Corazon Dry Rubbed Fried Chicken with Chorizo, Preserved Mushrooms, Barley, and Lemon Crème Fraîche. [Matthew Kang]

Ernesto Uchimura, the chef of Plan Check Bar, has become well known for fried chicken. [Matthew Kang]

Plan Check created a new version of their fried chicken. Spicy and Smokey Fried Chicken – Jalapeño Flavor accompanied sweet corn pudding, whipped buttermilk cheese, chicken cracklins, and green onion. [Matthew Kang]

Chef Ricardo Zarate and business partner Stephane Bombet have opened three restaurants together in L.A., and they’ve got more on the way. They promoted Paiche at the event. [Matthew Kang]

Zarate served Manchego-stuffed Fried Chicken Balls with aji amarillo coleslaw. [Matthew Kang]

A portion of Fried Chicken Festival proceeds benefit My Friend’s Place; a Hollywood-based charity dedicated to assisting and inspiring homeless youth to build self-sufficient lives. [Matthew Kang]

Firestone Walker Brewing Company poured three craft beers throughout the event: Union Jack, Pale 31, and Solace. [Matthew Kang]

Uber has become a popular ride option in L.A. and beyond. The company offered festival guests a free ride valued at up to $20 for first time users. [Matthew Kang]

Damian Windsor, who just left The Roger Room’s lead bar post, represented Milagro Tequila. [Matthew Kang]

Windsor served Zapatos Nuevos (New Shoes), a cocktail that originated at San Francisco’s Tres Agaves that combined Milagro Tequila, Watermelon, Lime and Basil. [Matthew Kang]

I asked Matthew Biancaniello to create one cocktail for VIP, and he brought five drinks, including Green zebra heirloom tomato water with sparkling Rose; and Bergamot mint chocolate chip ice cream with extra añejo tequila. [Matthew Kang]

Biancaniello’s most talked about cocktail consisted of Jujube infused Hendricks gin, fresh Concord grape juice, foraged purple sage, ginger, agave and matsu apple juice with a Greek Italian fried chicken foot on top, seasoned with cinnamon and bay leaves. [Matthew Kang]

Biancaniello drew curious participants to his bar, including Stephane Bombet. [Matthew Kang]

Los Angeles Ale Works co-founders John Rockwell and Kip Barnes poured two craft sodas: Ginger Citrus Soda + Ketsara (Thai Tea Soda). [Matthew Kang]

Pure Water of Los Angeles furnished the Food GPS Fried Chicken Festival with an eco-friendly water solution, three stations total. [Matthew Kang]

McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams, out of Santa Barbara, had the longest line at the festival thanks to warm weather and premium product. [Matthew Kang]

McConnell’s served three flavors: Dark Chocolate Paso Brittle, Salted Caramel Chip, and Santa Barbara Strawberry. [Matthew Kang]

Sharon Wang of Sugarbloom Bakery created individual miso butterscotch berry cobblers. [Matthew Kang]

DJ Bryan Davidson played a four-hour set that emanated across Lot 613. [Matthew Kang]
Blog Comments
Heirloom LA
September 18, 2013 at 5:33 PM
Such a great event, Food GPS! Everything was organized and lively and fun. So much delicious food and interesting people, great music. We had a blast!
Joshua Lurie
September 18, 2013 at 6:32 PM
Heirloom LA, it’s great to hear you had such a good time at the Fried Chicken Festival. Does this mean I can count you in for 2014?